Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Cookin' with Steph & Bianca

On Friday night, Stephanie (from the vegan blog Poopie Bitch) and I led a cooking demonstration at the Pu-Lin Buddhist temple. Henry, the guy who runs the temple, hosts free weekly vegetarian cooking classes with a rotating cast of demonstrators. This was our first class, so we decided to demystify tofu with a Vegan Lasagna with Tofu-Cashew Ricotta and Mushroom Marinara.

According to Henry's Buddhist tradition, one shouldn't eat onions or garlic. So we had to make our sauce from scratch since most jarred sauces contain onions and garlic. We used the Mushroom Marinara recipe from Veganomicon but left out the minced garlic.

We also made the Tofu Cashew Ricotta from Vcon. It was the first time I'd tried this stuff (Steph had made it previously), and wow! It's so creamy and delicious. I could eat it with a spoon by itself.

Besides sauce and "ricotta," we also stuck some nutritious veggies in between the layers. Here's Steph sauteeing some spinach to mix with carrot and zucchini:

And here we are spreading the veggies on:

There were about 15 people in the class and we received lots of compliments. Someone even said they couldn't tell the lasagna was cheeseless!

I should also give props to Richard, Stephanie's husband. He took these awesome pics with my new camera, and I'm super jealous of his skills. I'm still figuring the camera out but I haven't been able to get great results like this without using a flash.

holy cow that's so awesome! i'm kind of a nimrod when it comes to buddhism, but why can't they have garlic or onions? just curious. how did the sauce taste without them? just curious about that as well.

that is so cool, Bianca! glad you & Steph had so much fun! you guys look like professionals! yay! the lasagna = gloriously gooooood looking - i'd love a slice! ;) (i'd also like to second Kiersten's comment on your shirt - it's awesome!)

That cashew ricotta and me are total BFF. I'm making some for calzones later this week. And I love lasagna with lots of veggies, I totally need to make some - if only it didn't take so long. Maybe this weekend.

My name is Bianca ...

About Me

I'm a 9-year vegan, 19-year vegetarian from the Mid-South, not too far from the muddy banks of the Mississippi River. And that means cornbread, butter beans, and collard greens.
These days, I live in Memphis. Check out my cookbook — Cookin' Crunk. It's filled with yummilicious veganized soul food and country classics.